At the moment I am revising for my exams that start in one week, and came across a section that I thought could be shared with everyone within Manpower SA. Most of the contents we know and are common sense, but it never hurts to be reminded, especially when it covers such an important topic and one that affects our lives so greatly.
Stress
Let us begin by reminding ourselves that there is good stress and bad stress. Good stress can motivate us into action and help us function at optimal performance levels. Bad stress and too many negative stressors – can eventually lead to burn-out and other symptoms that damage our heath. The latter type of stress kills more people than all illnesses and crime related deaths combined. The general definition of stress is any physical, cognitive or emotional reaction that causes physiological or mental tension that may result in physical or emotional impairment.
As we approach the end of 2007 we all feel to some extent that time is racing faster than we can keep up with. Being involved in our predominately sales focused environment contributes to this period being potentially very stressful. Management and consultants alike know they have targets to meet and time is moving.
It has been widely established that the most common denominator of perceived stress is performance anxiety!
In any organization, a certain amount of stress is necessary and common to obtaining company objectives and goals. Obviously the type of profession, management structures and company culture we find ourselves in all influence how we perceive our environments and lead to a personal interpretation which can result in any amount of stress. Further to this we all have lives outside of our work-place, and there can be many personal factors that increase or decrease our stress levels.
Things like office politics, heavy work load and additional financial or marital problems can impact us very negatively.
There are strategies to dealing with stress and commonly a first-order coping strategy to reduce tension is being controlled, making jokes, crying (yes it’s not a bad thing!), talking it out or working of energy. These types of coping mechanisms are usually seen as normal and a way of having an outlet. The second coping strategy includes withdrawal or dissociation for example; amnesia, passive resistance, aversion, phobias and displacement of aggression belong to this group. The third coping mechanisms can be represented by episodic, explosive outbursts or panic attacks and even violence.
Nobody want to reach a point where the third coping mechanism becomes a reality, so how can we find more positively meaningful ways of dealing with the sometimes excessive amounts of stress that we face from time to time?
It has been reported that improving personal relations, not supporting office politics for example and building strong positive relations with colleagues can go a long way to reducing work pressures. Self-management, especially time management has a number of positive advantages; firstly it increases efficiencies and decreases time wastage which in itself leads to personal conflicts and self recrimination. Exercise is extremely beneficial as it releases morphine-like endorphins which produce an emotional “high” and feelings of well-being. Only three periods of twenty minutes each can make a vast difference to how we handle everyday life. Relaxation is often one of those things we ignore, especially if you belong to the category of type “A” personalities like myself. However, it is a must and we should not allow ourselves to feel guilty about protecting our times of planned relaxation!
If we follow a planned time management, have a satisfying home life, promote good interpersonal friend and work relations, exercise and spent quality time trying some useful relaxation techniques, high stress levels and bad stress management will become a thing of the past. Lastly, but definitely not least, take time to just simply reflect on the many good things in your life. We all have people that mean the world to us, so just taking time to count their worth, in turn increases our self-worth. Have an excellent day!
For your very own 'Anti-Stress Kit' please email: tina.nunes@manpower.co.za and remember to put in the subject heading 'PLEASE, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME NOW'.
Taryn (click on image to enlarge)
Leana (click on image to enlarge)
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